Food Security · Africa ranking
Acute Food Insecurity by African country
Sudan has the highest acutely food insecure population (IPC Phase 3+) of any African country, at 21M — 1.3× Democratic Republic of the Congo's 16.68M.
People in IPC/CH Phase 3 (Crisis) or worse — acute food insecurity requiring urgent action — from FEWS NET's latest current-situation estimate. 24 of 54 countries, ranked · FEWS NET FOOD SECURITY, 2026-05.
Sudan
Democratic Republic of the Congo
NigeriaBy region
The top 5 countries account for 66% of Africa's total acutely food insecure population (IPC Phase 3+).
Full ranking
| # | Country | Acute Food Insecurity | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sudan | 21M | |
| 2 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 16.68M | |
| 3 | Nigeria | 14.98M | |
| 4 | South Sudan | 9.05M | |
| 5 | Ethiopia | 8.5M | |
| 6 | Somalia | 6.83M | |
| 7 | Kenya | 4.07M | |
| 8 | Mozambique | 3.75M | |
| 9 | Chad | 2.3M | |
| 10 | Niger | 2.3M | |
| 11 | Cameroon | 2.13M | |
| 12 | Madagascar | 1.99M | |
| 13 | Burkina Faso | 1.88M | |
| 14 | Malawi | 1.87M | |
| 15 | Mali | 1.75M | |
| 16 | Uganda | 1.75M | |
| 17 | Angola | 1.25M | |
| 18 | Zimbabwe | 1.25M | |
| 19 | Central African Republic | 970K | |
| 20 | Burundi | 966.75K | |
| 21 | Lesotho | 175K | |
| 22 | Mauritania | 175K | |
| 23 | Rwanda | 175K | |
| 24 | Togo | 50K |
South Sudan
Ethiopia
Somalia
Kenya
Mozambique
Chad
Niger
Cameroon
Madagascar
Burkina Faso
Malawi
Mali
Uganda
Angola
Zimbabwe
Central African Republic
Burundi
Lesotho
Mauritania
Rwanda
TogoGet this ranking via API
One call to /v1/data returns the latest Acute Food Insecurity figure for every country you pass — JSON, with source metadata on each observation.
curl "https://api.africa-api.com/v1/data?metric_key=acutely_food_insecure_phase3plus_total&latest=true&country_codes=NG,KE,ZA,EG" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $AFRICA_API_KEY"Cite or republish this ranking
Data: Africa API — FEWS NET FOOD SECURITY, 2026-05. Free to republish with a link to this page. Pull the live figures via the API above so your version never goes stale.
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Frequently asked questions
Which African country has the highest acutely food insecure population (IPC Phase 3+)?
Sudan has the highest acutely food insecure population (IPC Phase 3+) in Africa at 21M (2026-05), followed by Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria.
Which African country has the lowest acutely food insecure population (IPC Phase 3+)?
Togo has the lowest acutely food insecure population (IPC Phase 3+) of the 24 African countries with data, at 50K (2024-11).
How many African countries report Acute Food Insecurity data?
24 of 54 African countries have a recent Acute Food Insecurity figure in the Africa API. Each value links to the country's full series with source and history.
How do I get this ranking via API?
Call GET /v1/data?metric_key=acutely_food_insecure_phase3plus_total&latest=true with the country codes you need and a free Africa API key — the response returns the latest value per country as JSON.
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